What I Can't Have
by maybe-i'm-crazy
Summary: About 4 months after the end of Sunnydale, Buffy and the gang have started a training school for slayers when they meet a 5 year old slayer with something that once belonged to a friend.
1. On the Road Again

Disclaimer: In no way do I own any part of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or anyone who works on it, besides my Joss Whedon voo doo doll...err...um... my miniature figurine of someone who resembles Joss Whedon which is in no way used for any ancient ritualistic ceremonies.  
  
A trailer somewhere in the middle of Rhode Island, or maybe Connecticut. That's really not important.  
  
Xander is sitting at a table playing cards with three teen girls. One is talking incessentally, another is eyeing the chatty one murderously, and the final is looking a little scared. Willow is in the back showing a girl how to float pencils and Flem is up front driving. They're all heading to Pennsylvania, then back to California where all the slayers go now to be trained. The Scoobies had found an abandoned boarding house in a suburb of LA. There was a lot of demon action there. It was pretty nice. There was a lot of space and everyone got to pass on what they knew, so not only were these girls warriors, they had Giles to teach them about all the slayer history and what were demons' powers and the most efficient way of killing them, Willow showed them magic, and Flem was a shockingly good Home Ec teacher. The group decided the school should double as a, well, school. They knew it was imperitive to make sure the girls were given an education along with being taught to be slayers. So, during the day the girls were trained and taught and at night there was patrol. It all worked out.   
  
Xander, Willow, and Flem were sent out to get the newest batch of recruits. The group took turns every weekend for who went out to find and try to explain to girls and their parents that they were superheroes and needed to be trained. It wasn't the most sought after weekend road trip. They were on their way to pick up the 5th and final recruit of this trip. They were headed to Pennsylvania to pick a 5-year old girl, named Allison. These were the hardest cases. They had to go pick up small children and move them away from their families and everything they knew. No one had an easy time explaining to someone they couldn't take care of their toddler, because their baby was chosen to grow up fighting horrible monsters and apocalypses. It was a tough thing to do. Luckily, Allison had been orphaned when she was a year old, so at least they wouldn't have to worry about parents. It was a sick thought. To feel lucky that a 5 year old will never remember her mom and dad.  
  
The trailer pulls into the child services office in Allison's town around noon. A very tired Willow and Xander got out and walked in. Sitting in a desk around a pile of papers was a 50-something woman, who was Allison's social worker.   
  
"Hello!" she said with a very large smile as she stuck out her hand. "I'm Maryann Carding, you must be here to discuss Allison."  
  
"Yes, we are. I'm Ms. Rosenberg and this is Mr. Harris.   
  
Xander let out a small snicker at being called Mr. Harris, but then instantly went back to pretending to be very composed.  
  
"Well, I am so glad that such a school is interested in little Allison. She really is a sweetheart and SO even-tempered. She is just the perfect little lady. She just gets along with everyone! Oh, and I've heard such wonderful things about the Joyce Summer's Institute!" she oozed out with false enthusiasm.   
  
Willow and Xander both let out small smiles. They had already read this girl's files. She was a little rule-breaker all over the place and no one knew anything about the school besides the people who went or taught there and their parents. She was probably just trying to make sure they didn't change their minds about taking the little devil out of her hands.   
  
"But," said Ms. Carding, " it may take several weeks for you to actually take her."  
  
Maybe they could make this go a tiny bit faster.  
  
"Well, it seems that we may not be able to take her, then," said Willow.  
  
"What?! I mean why not?" said an obviously panicky Ms. Carding.  
  
"Well, we can't really stay here for more than an hour, and we already have another little girl in Tuscon lined up, but if you took her for a few weeks, since she is technically out of the system, we'd be by to take her then, or maybe a little later. Three months.. tops."  
  
"Oh, um, it seems that I misplaced these papers and now I've found them! I'll just have to sign these right here and you can take her right now. She's in the back. I'll go get her now," Maryann Carding said as she ran at a truly astonishing speed into the back room.   
  
When she came back she was holding the hand of a tiny girl with a little pink dress (that had been torn along the edges), tiny pink shoes (that had dirt all over them), and a small pink bow (in the girl's hand along with a clump of her hair).  
  
''So this is Allison,'' said Willow and Xander.  
  
''This is Allison,'' Ms. Carding repeated. 


	2. Welcome

Disclaimer: None of it's mine. You know the rest.  
  
Buffy and Faith are in a large room filled with fighting equipment. Dummies, knives, swords, sparring equipment, it's all there.   
  
''So, how many recruits this week, B?,'' Faith said as she nonchalantly did a couple back handsprings along a mat.  
  
''Four, so far, but there's another possible one in Texas somewhere,'' Buffy replied.  
  
''Ages?''  
  
''Thirteen, sixteen, fourteen, five''  
  
''Five? Is that the youngest so far?''  
  
''Nope, Alexa is four and so is Dani . Oh, and Maggie is 2.  
  
''How could I forget. The little monster bit me the other day. Apparently, her jaws got the super-slayer juice.   
  
''She's teething.''  
  
''Yeah, on my flesh.''  
  
A couple of eight year old girls walk in.  
  
''Hi, Miss Buffy! Good morning, Miss Faith!'' said a freckled little red-headed girl.  
  
Both girls cringed a little at the titles they'd just been given. While the older students would call everyone by their first names (except Giles), most of the younger ones still had to put ''Miss'' or ''Mister'' before everyone but Xander's names. No one could bring themselves to call him anything but Xander or Xan Xan the Turtle Man from Alexa and Dani, the 4 year olds. Somehow he couldn't manage get any authority from anyone. Eh, no big loss there.   
  
Buffy stretched her arms a little. ''Now, girls. Who can tell me the best way to kill a Gretklur?"  
  
Back with the road-tripping Scoobies.  
  
"Will? Willow, are you asleep? WILLOW!" Xander hollered.  
  
"What?! Xander! Did something happen? Is everyone okay?" Willow spat out in a panic.  
  
"We're home."  
  
Flem was already the leading the older girls in and giving the grand tour and such. Willow carried in a sleeping Allison, while half-sleeping herself.   
  
"Hey, guys, " Buffy said. "Looks like five girls. Miss Texas came through?"  
  
"Yep, she's quite the little witch, too," Willow replied.  
  
"Yeah? Great. There's a demon around that will need some witching to get rid of and the more help the better,"  
  
"Not to sound concieted, but I turned hundreds of girls all over the world into super-fighting demon-hunters. I think I can handle one little demon,"  
  
"Good thing you're not concieted, or that would have sounded like bragging," Buffy said playfully.  
  
Willow blushed a little bit.  
  
"I was kind of surprised to hear you were up to a slayer-retrievage trip so soon after what happened to Kennedy," said Buffy.  
  
"Yeah, I was surprised at myself too. I mean it's not everyday the earth simply opens up and swallows your lover," she replied.  
  
"But, then again the same thing did happen to Riley and his new wife in the Amazon," Xander added.  
  
"He's right. By the way, has anyone found any explanation to why that might be happening?" Buffy asked.  
  
"No, but we haven't really been looking into, though. Why is that, Giles?" Willow said.  
  
"Uh...." Giles wipes his glasses. "The.. um... it seems...uh...A more pressing matter was discovered," Giles stuttered out.  
  
The only logical reply to this was, "Oh. Ok!"  
  
"The five-year old, any problem with the parents?" Buffy asked  
  
"Nope, car crash when she was a baby. Took them both," Xander said.  
  
"Oh, that's so sad," Buffy said.  
  
"I know. The girl's great, though. She's a little spitfire, not in the literal sense, though, 'cause then, you know she could be able to burn things and,"   
  
"Will."  
  
"Oh, sorry."  
  
"So when do all of us get to meet the new girls?" said Buffy.  
  
"Right now."  
  
As if on cue, which Buffy was certain they were, five girls stepped out and in front of everybody.  
  
Each person was introduced, Anna, who was 13, Wendi, who was 14 and rather talkative, Theresa , who nearly killed Wendi, was 16, and Livia, the witch from Texas, was 15. After them Allison stepped up. If she was even a tiny bit tired from the nap she had just been taking, the girl didn't show it. She bounced up and announced, "Hi! I'm Allison and I'm five! I like...."  
  
Then, the girl dropped to the floor. She twitched and writhed around in place, then it stopped.   
  
She still lay on her back when she whimpered, "Oh no, they're going to kill him."  
  
"Who, Sweetie?" asked Buffy who now hovered above the little girl.  
  
"Your heart." 


	3. My Solace

Disclaimer-I know nothing. Joss is god of his creation. I am a nothing Blah. Blah. Blah.  
  
Buffy, Xander, and Willow are sitting at a small table in the kitchen. They're silent, but no one needs to crack into each others thoughts to know what they're thinking about. Xander finally breaks the silence with,  
  
"So, she got Cordelia's visions."  
  
"Yeah Xand, she got her visions," Willow said quietly.  
  
He whispered, "So, then, Cordy's..."  
  
"Gone," Buffy replied.  
  
"Gone," He echoed with pain., "God, I could have loved that girl. I really wish I had, now. That doesn't quite make sense, but, I mean she fought the good fight and was crazy about me. Now, she's gone after doing the noble thing to do. And I just wished I had loved her. But, that's crazy right?"  
  
  
  
"No," Buffy said in a whisper which they almost couldn't hear, "at least I hope not..." which no one did hear her say.  
  
After thinking for a few moments, Willow spoke, "Didn't Cordy recieve her visions when they were given to her by..um.."  
  
"Doyle," Buffy said.  
  
"Right, now wouldn't Cordelia have had to give her visions to Allison?" Willow asked.  
  
"I guess. Yeah, I suppose she would have had to given them to her, but one little hole. That might have been a little hard considering, you know, her being comatose for like five months," Buffy said.  
  
"Unless..."  
  
"Unless what, Will?" Xander asked.  
  
"Well, what if that was how she gave her the visions? I mean, stranger things have happened. What if Cordelia contacted Allison while they were both sleeping and gave her the visions once she knew that it was looking like it might be the end for her?" Willow stated with mounting confidence in the idea.  
  
"I don't know, Will. Mind connection? Doesn't that seem like a bit of a stretch?" Xander said.  
  
"I don't know. I think it seems rather plausible that Cordelia saw something in this girl that made her think she was strong enough for the visions," Giles said as he walked into the room.  
  
"Come on, Giles, really? And, hey, it's not polite to eavesdrop," Buffy said.  
  
"I apologize."  
  
"Good," Buffy replied.  
  
They sat for a whike just talking about everything. They had been doing a lot of that since the demise of Sunnydale. After everything they had done they had just needed each other. Xander was destroyed with grief after losing Anya. Willow got really sick and almost died about a month after all the magic she used. It seemed there was a real magical backlash after having that much power go through you. Then Buffy, she lost Spike. He was her knight. She hadn't loved him, not like he loved her anyway, but he still was what kept her alive for those months of despair after Willow brought her back from the dead. She probably could have loved him, but Angel had to come make her so madly in love with him that she couldn't God damn love anyone else, probably never could again.   
  
'Stupid heart, we're never going to be able to have him anyway, why not just give up?' Buffy thought silently.  
  
"Wait, oh God..."   
  
"What is it Buffy?" Xander asked.  
  
"We have to go warn Angel," she said.  
  
"What? Why? Is there something I'm not catching here? " Xander said chasing after Buffy as she moved from the room grabbing her coat and car keys.  
  
"Buffy! What?" Xander said still following her.  
  
"Xander," Willow said.  
  
"Is some uber evil coming?" he tried again.  
  
"Xander," Willow repeated.  
  
Buffy wasn't even listening as she dashed out the door.  
  
"What the? Why does Angel suddenly need to be warned about the big evilly before Buffy can stop for 2 seconds and tell us what's going on?"   
  
  
  
"Because Xander, he's the one in danger," Willow explained  
  
"How could she know that?" Xander said.  
  
Now Giles stepped up, "Because, he is her heart, Xander"   
  
Buffy was trying to panic as she sped her car up to 80.   
  
'God, don't let me be too late. Please. I'll do anything just don't let me be too late. Why the hell didn't I figure it out sooner. I should have known. Who else could it have been? I'm so stupid. What if he's gone? What if I never get to see him again? What if I could have stopped this and.....Oh please God, don't let me be too late. '   
  
She pulled her car into a spot across the street from Wolfram and Hart and ran into the building.  
  
"Angel. I need to see Angel. Where is he?" she begged the first lawyer she saw.   
  
"Oh sorry. He's not here right now. He's on one of his little "excursions" of sorts." the lawyer replied.  
  
"You mean saving the helpless?" Buffy asked.  
  
"Yeah, that," he said.  
  
She turned towards the door and started running.  
  
'He can't have gone far. I just have to keep running,' Buffy thought.  
  
After running for what seemed like forever, she finally saw him.  
  
"Angel!" she screamed.  
  
He was fighting a gang of vamps and holding his own, but they were wearing him down. One came up behind him with a stake and raised it towards Angel's heart.   
  
"No!"Buffy screamed.  
  
She ran towards them as fast as she could. The vamp lowered the stake as Buffy ran towards him. She reached up and grabbed the stake out of his hand just in time. They continued to fight for a while until all the vamps, al least all the soulless ones, were dusted. Angel turned to her.  
  
"Buffy, what are you doing here. How did you know..."  
  
She was going to tell him, but it just wouldn't come out. How could she tell him? 'Oh, I knew you were going to die unless I didn't help, because a five your old who has your dead best friends' psychic visions told me.'   
  
"I...It's that...," Buffy stammered.  
  
"What is it, Buffy?" Angel asked.  
  
Buffy opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She couldn't think of what to say, so she did the only thing that came to mind. She ran. She ran to her car, then drove as fast as she could back home. It took every ounce of strength she had not to look back. 


	4. Remember Her

Disclaimer: Buffy no mine. Simple enough?  
  
They were all lined up to go. Ready to head to the heart of LA for Cordy's funeral. They got into their cars and started driving. There really was no explanation for the feelings. Feelings aren't usually clear about death. They knew for a fact that Cordelia was in a better place now. She was happy and at peace. They wanted her back, but to bring her back would be horrible. So, this is where they were. Missing her terribly, but knowing she didn't miss them or need them, but loved them as much as ever. It wasn't really sadness. It certainly wasn't happiness. It was just lots of emotion. Lots and lots of emotion.   
  
When they got to the funeral, it didn't fit. It was very...quiet. It was the middle of the night, but still. It was too quiet to be for Cordelia. Quiet was not like Cordelia at all. If this would have been like she wanted, it probably would have been a party. With balloons and smiles and people laughing as their friends made complete fools of themselves. She would have liked it that way. This wasn't Cordelia at all. This wasn't really any of them. It was kind of like the absence of them.   
  
Buffy was trying not to hate Cordelia. She watched Angel looking so sad. He always looked pensive, but he only gets the way he looked then about people he loves, or loved. He loved Cordelia. It was cruel and stupid, but he loved someone after her and she hated that he could do that. 'How could I be so insensitive? One of my oldest allies, no, friends is dead from being a hero and I have to try not to hate her. God, that's twisted,' she thought. She tried not to look at the entire thing and turned from it all. When she looked up she saw Spike. It was nothing unusual. She actually imagained him being around quite a bit. Sometimes she would think about little things he used to say and how he used to walk. He was one of the good ones. Well, not to start off with, but eventually he came around. Yeah, he was a hero. She turned back to the funeral with a little bit more strength than before.  
  
She looked at him. He saw her turn and look at him. She knew he was back now. She had to. Then, why didn't she look surprised? She just looked, 'Perfect,'he thought, 'She looks bloody perfect.' But, that wasn't the point. She looked like this was just something completely ordinary. She looked like it was nothing to see someone walking around that you watched die. That's not something that you see everyday. Well, not anymore, anyways.   
  
The funeral went through unchaotically. There were no demon attacks. There was no sudden bursting out of the coffin. It was just a lot of people mourning someone who was bright and beautiful and good. Everyone stood and watched them take the body of one of their dear friends and lower it into the ground. Then, they were supposed to leave. Just, walk away from the place where the shell of their old friend would stay forever. How are you supposed to do something like that?  
  
Angel walked up to Buffy after the funeral.  
  
"Someone got Cordy's visions, didn't they?" he asked already knowing the answer, "That's how you knew I needed help. Someone got a vision that told you to come save me."  
  
Buffy looked up at Angel slowly. "Yeah, there's a little girl named Allison that just came to the school. We thought she was just a slayer, but then she told us about seeing you get hurt and we realized she had visions just like Cordy," Buffy replied quietly.  
  
"But, there are lots of reasons she could have visions. She could be part demon or something," Angel said.  
  
"Come on, Angel. Cordelia dies and suddenly Allison gets visions is a little too much to be just a coincedence," Buffy replied.  
  
"How could she have considering she was..." Angel said  
  
"I know. We think she may have connected to Allison in her dreams," Buffy said.  
  
Angel thought for a while and couldn't take it. He didn't cry. He couldn't do that. He just stopped talking and let himself be in pain.  
  
She knew that look. That was the look he got when it was too much and he got into his "I'm going to wallow in my own misery" face. He hurt. She hated when he hurt. She tried not to let his pain break her, but she couldn't take it. She took his hand and made him look at her.   
  
He almost kissed her. He wanted to so badly in that moment, but he knew he couldn't. If he did he might not feel the pain and he needed the pain. He needed to be hurting for Cordelia.   
  
She almost kissed him. She would have if she didn't see it. She saw the moment after that second she'd been happy with him. She saw the pain of wanting to be with him so much more than before, but still not being able to. She saw her heart breaking all over again. Her heart broke one too many times for her not to stop herself from running back to him in her pain.  
  
Spike watched the two of them.   
  
"Damn, Angel," he muttered. It wasn't fair. He loved Buffy just as much as Angel did, but he knew she just couldn't love him like she loved Angel. He'd always known that.   
  
'You'll fight and you'll shag and you'll fight and you'll shag, but you'll never be just friends.'  
  
He recalled saying it so many years ago. Funny, it wasn't any less true now that the two of them had been apart, and with other people, and lived, and grown up, than it was the day he first said it. The irony was really quite monumental. Everyone he'd come close to loving, besides Cecily, (but she doesn't really count now does she?) had felt exactly the same way. Now the person he loved more than anything is the only one who doesn't love him back, instead she loved the person he liked the least out of anyone he'd ever met. He couldn't imagaine how anything could have made Angel, or anyone else, leave her and hurt her like that.   
  
"Damn, Angel," he repeated as he walked away. 


	5. Dreaming of You

Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. (Too lazy to write some mildly amusing disclaimer with wit and humor.)  
  
Buffy lay in Angel's arms looking up at him.  
  
"You're a hero, you know that right?" she asked him.  
  
"Sometimes I forget. It's good to have you here to remind me," he said looking down at her smiling.  
  
She turned in his arms and looked him straight in the eyes.  
  
"You have to be able to know it without me, okay?" she asked him completely seriously.  
  
"Yeah, alright Buffy. I know," he said.  
  
"Good. Never forget that, okay? You're a hero," she told him.  
  
"I love you," he said.  
  
"I love you, too," she said breaking a small smile, "Remember that too. Now wake up."  
  
Angel woke up to the memory of the dream he'd just been having. It left an eerie feeling in its wake. He'd had dreams like this one before. Dreams about what he wanted, but couldn't have. He tried to shake the feeling, but he knew there was something different this time.  
  
Buffy was walking around LA aimlessly. Maybe she would find some evil or a really good place to drink. She needed to find something to make herself feel less of everything. Less of the sadness for Cordelia. Less of mourning and guilt for Spike. Less of her aching to be with Angel. She just wanted to step out of it all.   
  
She walked into an alley for no particular reason. A female vampire was about to take a bite out of a guy about her age.   
  
"I guess I'll have to hold off on the plastering for a while."  
  
She kicked the vampire square in the jaw. The she-pire got up and ran towards her. She sent Buffy flying into a wall.   
  
"Ow!" Buffy said, now thoroughly annoyed.   
  
"Sorry, Princess. Did that hurt?" the vamp teased.  
  
"Eh,"   
  
Buffy said kicking the vampire into a dumpster and sticking a stake into her heart.  
  
"Not really."  
  
After that she kept walking. She found one more vampire and it was pretty easy staking.   
  
Angel got up and walked out of his apartment. He needed her. He needed to see her, speak to her, be around her at all.  
  
Buffy was about to head back to the hotel when she saw Angel. He was running at her.  
  
"Buffy!" he hollered.  
  
"Angel? What are you doing here?" Buffy asked rather bewildered.  
  
"I don't really know. I needed to see you," he said.  
  
"Why? I mean not that I'm not happy, but"  
  
"I love you. I have never loved anyone like I loved you. Stay with me somehow," he almost said. It was true, but if he said it she might agree.  
  
"I wanted you to know it meant a lot to me that you came to Cordy's funeral," he said instead.  
  
He wanted to thank her? He wanted to thank her for coming to the woman he...loved, he wanted to thank her for coming to the woman he loved's funeral. It left a kind of stinging that she couldn't express.   
  
"Cordelia was a friend and a hero. She was one of the good ones. She will be missed," she said trying to put on the brave face that she was starting to be so good at.  
  
"Yeah, she was an incredible person," Angel said, 'but she wasn't you,' he thought to himself, 'I can't stay here. I can't have her stay so close to me. Who knows what would happen if either of us gave in to,'   
  
She kissed him. No imagainary thinking about it. It was a real, true, 3-dimensional kiss. Tempatation got the best of her and she couldn't keep resisting him.  
  
"I'm sor-" Buffy started.  
  
He kissed her. There was a moment when they almost forgot they couldn't stay there forever. Almost.   
  
"I-- It's--" both tried to explain what had just happened, but in the end there was no real explanation, so Buffy used her natural instincts again. She ran away from him for the second time.  
  
"It didn't matter. None of it. You loved her. You gave up everything and gave away the thing that once defined you. All for her. You made her real again. Made her feel, but after everything, all of it, it was still him. It was still him that clasped every corner of your love's heart, " Druscilla's sing-song voice whispered to Spike from a dark corner, "Poor, Baby. Just a whisper of what he was. Mummy's here to make it all better. Mummy can save her baby, now."  
  
"Dru? What the bloody hell are you here for?" Spike asked as he searched for where her voice was coming from.  
  
"I'm here to save my baby. Mummy takes care of her babies," Dru said as she stepped out into the light the candle made around her.  
  
"Sorry, Dru, don't know what you've been thinking, but I don't need saving, Pet," Spike said walking towards her.  
  
"The deaf man can never hear his killer coming up from behind him, but he still comes," Druscilla stalked forward towards him.  
  
"Listen, Dru I don't know why you're here, but whatever it I really couldn't care in th--" Spike said beginning to lose his patience  
  
"Shush, do you hear it? It's singing, calling you back. Back home with Mummy. We could wreak such havoc...What's stopping you now? Her? She doesn't even know you didn't burn to a million tiny dancing ashes. She has no room for you in her heart anyways. Angel took it all. No room left for my baby, but you always have a place here," Drusilla spoke dancing slightly with her words.  
  
"Dru, I don't know if you noticed, but this didn't work when I didn't have a soul, why would it work now?" Spike said.  
  
Drusilla smiled as she pulled a long amulet off her neck leaving an identical one still there, "We could destroy it all my baby. Behold the Amulets of Amora." 


	6. That's What Heroes Do, Right?

Disclaimer: I don't think I own anything. Then again, I don't really think much at all.  
  
P.S. This is BA with sympathy towards BS, and Rhina, there will be absoloutely no WG, because the idea of that really creeps me out.  
  
"So, Giles, who was your Catherine?"  
  
"Willow, what are you talking about?"  
  
"You know, in Wuthering Heights, Heathcliff and Catherine were so in love, but they could just never make it work. Angel is Buffy's Heathcliff, Anya was Xander's Catherine. Who is your someone who you could never have?" Willow asked somewhat distractedly.  
  
"Well, there was a girl I particularly fancied in grade school who moved to Scotland to live with her aunt." Giles replied.  
  
"That doesn't count. Now, for real. Who was your Catherine?" she said, now focusing on her topic of thought.  
  
"I suppose it was Olivia,"  
  
"I remember her. She was the one you were doin' the dirty dirty with on Buffy's first day of college, so you didn't go help her fight the vampire nest until after they were all dusted."  
  
"Well, uh, yes, you could put it that way," Giles muttered, obviously embarressed.  
  
"And the one who was here when no one could talk, so you two were doing the dirty dirty again," Willow rambled on.  
  
"Willow, I don't think---how did you know about those things?" Giles asked.  
  
"What do you mean?" Willow said.  
  
"I don't remember, and am almost positive I would never, tell you about either of those occasions," Giles said with an increasing amount of scoldy-ness in his tone.  
  
"Well, um, when I got bored and no one was talking I just sort of, used to, peek around your heads sometime," Willow replied sheepishly.  
  
"Willow, that is an incredible invasion of privacy and I cannot believe that you would invade your friends' personal thoughts like that!" Giles yelled at Willow.  
  
"But, Giles. It was usually okay. I mean, you guys were usually thinking about how much you'd like a cookie right then or something," Willow tried to defend herself.  
  
Giles just rolled his eyes exasperatedly and went back to reading a book on the ancient demons of central Australia.  
  
"It's not like I killed someone," Willow mumbles.  
  
"But, the slimy thing did,"  
  
Willow and Giles both turned to see Allison walk into the room in pajamas.  
  
"Did you get a vision?" Willow said running up to her and checking to see if she was alright.  
  
Allison nodded her head, "The girl in the white dress is gonna die," Allison stated flatly while playing with the sleeve of her pajamas absent-mindedly.  
  
"Okay, good. Let's go and get Buffy and Angel and send them to where they have to go to save her," Willow said as she walked the girl out of the room.  
  
Giles continued to sit and finally realized what had been bothering him about Allison.  
  
"Fear," he said quietly to himself.  
  
Allison experienced the same things that nearly killed a half-demon and drove a grown woman temporarily insane. If a five year-old child experienced these things in the same way how come she was never afraid?  
  
Buffy was sitting in the room of her hotel. She'd pace, then sit, then pace, then sit in a circling pattern. It was about 3 AM when she heard Willow's car outside.   
  
"Hey, Buffy," Willow said as she walked into Buffy's room carrying Allison.  
  
"Hi, Willow," Buffy said.  
  
"She got a vision about a big slimy thing, which from what she told seems to be a Tamaiak demon living in an abandoned church," Willow said, starting to try and wake Allison slowly.  
  
"Alright then, let's go. We'll take my car. It's faster," Buffy said.  
  
"Buffy, shouldn't we go get Angel. He is, sort of, the one the visions are for," Willow said.  
  
Buffy looked away from Willow after hearing Angel's name.  
  
"Buffy, what happened?" Willow asked immediayely realizing something was wrong with her friend.  
  
"We, sort of, kissed," Buffy said unsure of herself.  
  
"What? Oh god, Buffy. It didn't go any farther than that, right? He still has a soul," Willow asked, hugging Buffy.  
  
"Yeah, he's still Angel, he just, we just, God Willow, I miss him so much," Buffy finally broke down in tears.  
  
"I know, Buffy, Willow consoled, "but Buffy, there's a girl out there who's going to die if we don't stop it, and we're definately not going to go get Angel now, but we have to go save her."  
  
"Okay, yeah. Let's go," Buffy said wiping her tears.  
  
"Sorry, Buffy," Willow said before Buffy cut her off.  
  
"No, I have to be strong. That's what we heroes do, right?" Buffy said with a weak smile. 


	7. Crazy Girls

Disclaimer: In no way do I own any part of the BtVS/Angel franchise.  
  
"Amulets of Amorha?" Spike said with a laugh, "Sorry, Pet. There's no such thing."  
  
"Oooh, Baby hasn't been listening. Listening to what the wind calling us. Bad bad boy. I had to get them all by myself, because you wouldn't come," Dru said coming farther into the room.  
  
"You're saying you went and found these nifty rocks on chains, because the wind told you? Pet, you're even more daft than I remember," Spike said lighting a cigarette.  
  
"They called me, every day, calling and calling, telling me to find them, to save us from what's coming," Drusilla said with a sway.  
  
"Something's coming?" he asked his interest now perked.  
  
"Ah, ah, ah. No running to your slayer to save her. Bad boy," she said tossing a glass bottle of holy water at him, which shattered against the wall and burned Spike's hand in the process.  
  
"You, Loony Bitch! What the hell was that for?" Spike shouted.  
  
"Baby needed to be punished." Drusilla said.  
  
"You've gone completely mad now!" Spike screamed at her.  
  
"Hmm..." Drusilla hummed to herself as she went to the window. "Such a lovely day, you should really let the sun in," Drusilla opened the window, streaming the sunlight in, while Spike narrowly escaped the rays, Drusilla basked in them for a few moments without any harm coming to her.  
  
"Bloody hell. What have you found, pet?"   
  
Drusilla laughed, "You have no idea, my baby, you have no idea."  
  
"I honestly had no idea this many abandoned churches had basements," Willow said walking with Buffy.  
  
"Yeah, if a few of these could be storage sheds, it would make our job so much easier," Buffy said walking up a hill to get to the church.  
  
"This is it," Allison said pointing to the church, "I need you to not get hurt, okay?" she continued.  
  
"Yeah, sweetie. Buffy's a pro. She can handle herself," Willow said with a smile.  
  
Buffy turned to Willow, "If I'm not out in a few minutes, I don't want any freaking tulips at this one of my funerals."  
  
Willow rolled her eyes, " Don't even joke, now go."  
  
Buffy ran into the building.  
  
The demon was circling a girl in a white dress. She was inside a pentagram of black ash and a red sand the demon had surrounded her with. He kept muttering in Latin while he walked.  
  
"Now really, if you're going to have a sacrifice, why can't you people just be normal and use goats?" Buffy said strolling into the room.  
  
The demon looked at Buffy and ran at her. As he was about to pin her against the wall she ducked around him enough to see white-dress-girl get up huffily and start scowling at Buffy.  
  
"Stupid, Bitch!" the demon screamed.  
  
"Now that's just rude." Buffy scolded.  
  
Ms. White Dress then grabbed the demon and began to fight. She was good. Rough around the edges, but obviously a slayer.  
  
Buffy ran up to the demon from behind and snapped its neck.  
  
"What did you do that for?" White dress whined.  
  
"That thing was about to kill you," Buffy shrugged.  
  
"I am the slayer. Not that you know what that is, but it means that I would have been fine and it was all in the plan, until YOU showed up and ruined it all." White dress huffed.  
  
"One. You are A slayer, not THE slayer. Two. That thing was going to kill you, if I didn't help. And three. I run an academy to train slayers and if you're interested here is our card. Now, any questions?" Buffy asked the girl who was beginning to become rather annoying.  
  
The girl stared gaping at Buffy for a second.   
  
"Didn't think so," Buffy said walking out the door.  
  
"So, is our baddie trounced and the damsel in distress naming her first-born after you?" Willow asked.  
  
"Well, the demon's dead and get this. The damsel's a slayer." Buffy said.  
  
"Really? Hmm... So is she coming to the Institute?" Willow said picking up Allison and beginning to walk away.  
  
"Not sure. She's a good fighter, but she's got a bit of a superiority complex." Buffy said following suit.  
  
"Yeah, that's so odd, considering she's a member of a rare breed of superheroes," Willow said.  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes and they kept walking.  
  
"Did this seem at all...you know...gay?"  
  
"WILLOW!" Buffy laughed, while socking her friend in the arm.  
  
"Hey, a girl has to ask!" Willow replied giggling. 


	8. Eden and Her NotSoGreat Demise

Disclaimer: See top of past seven chapters.   
  
"The end's coming , my sweet. No one is stopping it this time. we could stay forever. No stopping us now." Dru smiled wickedly at him.   
  
"She's right. Something big is coming and only the ones who cheat, lie and steal are making it out." This voice was different, it sounded somehow familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where it could be....  
  
"Eden," he choked out.  
  
"Surprised to see me? William, William, William, I expected better of you. Then again, you never were the brightest in the family." the woman, Eden, smirked.  
  
She was the same as he remembered. Her features echoed his own, but that was as far as their similarities went. His cousin, Eden and he had grown up as close as a brother and sister. They had been the best of friends. She was witty and charming. He was shy and good-natured. They accented each other perfectly.   
  
"You...you aren't..you're not dead, you can't be here," he stumbled over the words.  
  
"Well, that's partially true. We both know I'm not a vampire. Your sense-y vampire thing made you sure of that, but I am dead, or at least I was. You see," she said sitting on the table in the underground hole/cavern/Spike's apartment, "I died when I was, let me see...I guess I was nineteen, it was about a year after you and your mother were killed. I was murdered in a street by some petty criminals. I was stabbed, actually. Hurt quite a bit." Eden said with a laugh, recalling the whole ordeal.  
  
"Sweet story, really, but that doesn't explain why you're back," Spike said aggravatedly.  
  
"Ooh, this is a good story. You're going to love it, Precious," Drusilla giggled.  
  
Buffy woke up to find Willow in a sleeping bag next to her bed. She'd crashed at Buffy's hotel, since it was too late to go back to the Institute. Allison was curled up sleeping on the couch in the corner of the room. Buffy leaned over to look at the clock. She'd slept all of two hours. She suddenly had to get up. She had to wake up, walk out of the room, and go talk to him. She had just enough time to scrawl out a note.  
  
Willow-   
  
Had to see Angel. Take Allison home. Don't wait up.  
  
Buffy  
  
~8 hours later~  
  
Fred watched Angel in his office. He hadn't said more than two words since he came back to Wolfram & Hart last night. She was worried about him. He had been really depressed since Cordy died, but he never cut them off completely like he was doing now. Something was hurting him. She always felt unsafe when he hurt. If something was bad enough to hurt him, then what could it do to her? She wasn't weak and defenseless anymore, and she didn't idealize Angel as she had when they first met, but he was still a security blanket for her. Except, he wasn't a blanket, he was a blood drinking dead man who used a lot of hair gel  
  
"I can't believe she still... How could I have said..." Angel's thoughts were a mess after what had just happened with Buffy.   
  
~6 hours earilier~  
  
"Why am I here? What good could possibly come of this?" Buffy asked herself.  
  
"God damn it. Here goes nothing." She said finally getting the courage to knock on the door of Angel's apartment.  
  
Angel woke up groggily. Why would someone be here at 5 AM? Anyone who knew him knew it was early and the sun was already up, so he was obviously trying to sleep. He stumbled to the door and opened it, still half sleeping.  
  
"Buffy?"  
  
"Angel, I need to talk to you."  
  
"Let me start at the end of me being totally human. So, I was sent to heaven, or a higher plane, or whatever, because I had been a good little girl," Eden smirked tracing a pretend halo around her head, "but it didn't suit me very well. Actually, it didn't suit them very well. I kind of liked it there. You see I had this big evilly sitting in the pit of my stomach. It was just waiting to come out, but back then they couldn't send me to Hell for something I hadn't even become yet, but I couldn't stay in heaven. I had bunches of big hairy evil in me, so they sent me back here to live out a life as I would have if I hadn't been killed, besides it being a century and a half later. So, they expected to just let me stay here, until I died of old age, by which time they thought I'd have the evil come out. Too bad for them, I was on a faster time clock," Eden giggled.  
  
"You're evil already." Spike said it, quietly mourning the loss of his cousin.  
  
"MmmHmm," Eden nodded, "but I've decided that I am not too keen about the idea of going to hell, so I'm brewing a little apocalypse that will destroy all the dimensions. Fun, fun, fun."  
  
"Yeah, great plan! You do realize that even with these little things" Spike held up an amulet," you're still not going to make it, considering nothing will exist!"  
  
"Oh yeah, those are only part of the plan. They'll come in handy though. Okay, so here's what's gonna happen. First I go get your little slayer's friend, and then I'll steal their magic essencey mojo and then I make us and all of the human race disappear for a minute while this is all happening a new dimension is created that is far more fun than this one. For one thing, I'l be adding a few new aspects to the human psyche. Like, the essential need for servitude to us. And then...."  
  
*bang*  
  
"Damn." Eden whispered as she fell to the ground and the blood pooled around her body.  
  
"Hi, Spike," a familiar voice said as she put the gun back in her purse   
  
  
  
"Hey, Cordelia." 


End file.
